Tag: Management Plans

This video, #8, is a companion piece to #3 in the series. It shows how Fred’s Dam works during a rain, how the redirected water has created a seasonal wet meadow, what is happening to the water as it exits the wet meadow, and how that water might be managed as it moves downslope. I …

It is a sad fact that Texas’, agencies, universities, governmental and conservation organizations resist holistic wildlife and agricultural management practices. In this 5-minute video, range scientist Allan Savory discusses why this is so, and how this resistance might be overcome.

“Desertification is a fancy word for land that is turning to desert,” states Allan Savory in his quiet but inspirational form. Desertification is happening to about two-thirds of the world’s grasslands, accelerating climate change and causing traditional grazing societies to descend into social chaos. Savory has devoted his life to stopping it. He now believes, …

Desert Bighorn Sheep are one of four wild sheep found in North America. All four are incredible animals. Few private landowners in far-West Texas have as much experience or success with Desert Bighorn Sheep as ourselves. Our experience is that sheep are easy to raise: Add lots of free water and leave them, and all …

Studies at Big Bend National Park show that mountain lions avoid humans, are most active early and late in the day, and that female lions are more active than males. This is consistent with our experience and observations at Circle Ranch, where we protect our lions because they and all other predators are necessary for …

A great article by Steve Nelle that outlines how to have more and healthier mule deer, quail and pronghorn. Grazing management is the single most important way to affect mule deer food supply. When grass conditions permit, practice light-to-moderate seasonal grazing, in some rotational form (examples include “holistic planned grazing” and “adaptive grazing”). Whether or …

Here’s an interesting economic analysis on the eradication of bison in the late 1800s. The authors say that bison’s near-extermination was a rational economic process which did not constitute a “tragedy of the commons.” The tragedy of the commons is an economic theory of a situation within a shared-resource system where individual users, acting independently …

Here is a useful body of early information on Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). CWD’s history has been revised considerably in the last 15-years. NOTE: This post is taken verbatim from MadCow.org Mad deer, mad elk: sources, definitions, and diagnosis CWD Video Successful transmission of CWD to primate and goat State-by-state update on CWD: 27 Jan …

Biodiversity is Good, not Bad Because plants need animals as much as animals need plants, a biodiverse plant community requires a biodiverse animal community. Conventional wildlife “management” and “conservation” theory says that most of the animals, and especially the predators pictured below harm “native” plants and animals, through “competition”, and should be reduced if not …

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Circle Ranch

Circle Ranch is a 32,000-acre high-desert mountain ranch located in the Sierra Diablo (Devil Mountains) of far-West Texas. The ranch rises 2,400 feet above the Chihuahuan Desert floor to reach a maximum elevation of 6,500 feet.
The ranch is owned by Chris and Laura Gill, and their four children. It is operated with a primary focus on game, wildlife and habitat.